Herb. Also 6 blete, bleit, blyte, blittes, 6–7 bleet, (8–9 blight), 7–9 blit. [ad. L. blitum orache, spinach, a. Gr. βλίτον ‘perh. strawberry blite, or amaranth blite.’] Book-name for various plants of the N.O. Chenopodiaceæ: esp. Wild Spinach (C. Bonus-Henricus), Amaranthus blitum, various species of Atriplex, and the genus Blitum (STRAWBERRY BLITE). Formerly also for Garden Spinach.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., IV. 291. Iche erthe ywrought nowe blite wol multiplie.
1551. Turner, Herbal (1568), I. F vi b. It may be called in englyshe a blyte or a blete.
1586. Cogan, Haven Health, lxxxiv. (1636), 87. Bleet … is used for a Pot-hearbe among others.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 76. Bleets seeme to be dull, vnsauorie and foolish Woorts, hauing no tast nor quicknesse at all.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Abscess, Give ’em Lettice or Blites chopped small.
1796. C. Marshall, Garden., xix. (1813), 350. Mulberry blight, or more properly blite … whose fruit resembles a red unripe mulberry.
1853. Soyer, Pantroph., 68. Blit was eaten boiled, when nothing better was to be had.
